12 Roses
by a shadow eagle
Summary: I will always love you... until the last rose dies..." Shikamaru/Ino. ONESHOT. XP


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... T_T

Well here is a Shika/Ino fic... it is a bit hard to write but... oh well... lets go on with the story...

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"Sorry Naruto... we did everything we can, but... he's dying" Sakura said, her voice is close to breaking yet she was trying not to cry. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon in Konoha's Hospital.

"But Sakura-chan... there has to be a way to make him live... PLEASE... please... do something..." Naruto pleaded. 'There HAS to be a way...' he thought.

Sakura started to cry tears flowed down her cheeks. "SAKURA!!! This isn't the time to be crying... SAVE HIM!!!" he yelled at her. She looked at him with a horrified expression. "But-" she started. "Sakura!!!" he yelled again.

"NARUTO!!! Don't add the pressure on Sakura... Accept the truth... We can't heal him anymore...The deep wounds on his chest are easy to heal... But the poison already spread throughout his body... Nothing can stop it anymore... He only has until tomorrow to live." Tsunade said.

"No..." Naruto said. "This is all my fault, if I had brought him here earlier" Naruto said frantically.

"It's not your fault Naruto..." Sakura said now a little calmer.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan... for yelling at you..." he apologized.

"It's fine... but more importantly... This is surely gonna hurt Ino..." Sakura said as she looked at Shikamaru who was lying on the bed asleep. "I know Sakura-chan... I know..." he said as Sakura started to heal a small wound on his arm.

Apparently, Naruto and Shikamaru was assigned into an assassination mission where Shikamaru was wounded by the enemy. Naruto took some time before he defeated the enemy and returned to Konoha as fast as possible to help Shikamaru, but he was too late.

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"By the way... Where is Ino?" Naruto asked. A few hours has passed and it was 9 o'clock in the evening yet he still didn't leave Shikamaru's side. And so did Sakura.

"She was also in a mission out of the village... She will be returning tomorrow morning" Sakura said her voice was low and solemn.

"So they still have time to talk before he leave us... forever..." he muttered the last word softly.

"Yeah..." Sakura said. 'But I think that talk will hurt Ino more' she thought.

"I can't believe this is happening" Naruto said. Sakura bowed her head then headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"I'm gonna get you some food... You haven't eat dinner yet." She said. He nodded then she left.

" So tomorrow's my time huh?" a small weak voice said.

"Shikamaru!! Your awake!!!" Naruto yelled facing him. Shikamaru sighed then asked again... "Tomorrow?"

Naruto looked down then nodded. "And Ino is coming home tomorrow?"Shikamaru asked. Another nod. "Troublesome" he muttered.

"Shikamaru... are you okay with this?" Naruto asked. "Ofcourse not you idiot... I'm dying and your asking if I'm okay with it..." He said. "I mean Ino..." Naruto said.

Silence.

"Naruto... I need your help" he finally said.

"Sure... Anything" Naruto said. Shikamaru smiled and started instructing him what to do Naruto nodded at every step. When they were finished...Sakura entered handing Naruto food while Shikamaru once again drifted to sleep.

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It was 11 o'clock in the morning when Ino arrived at the village.

"Hmmmm... What a nice day..." She said. 'Okay so first, I just have to report my mission to Tsunade-sama then head to Shikamaru... It's been exactly one week since we last talked...' She thought as she headed to the tower.

After 3 knocks she entered Tsunade's office and saw Naruto inside. "Hey" She greeted.

"Hey Ino" He greeted back then turned to the door. "I'm in a hurry so... gotta go!" He smiled then ran out.

"Energetic as always" Ino said then turned to Tsunade. "Hello Hokage-sama" She greeted. Tsunade smiled at her sadly then started their discussion.

After almost 2 hours the reporting finally ended.

"Okay... that was weird, usually Tsunade-sama would just talk to me for 30 minutes but somehow today she keep on blabbling about the mission." She said then just took off, 'Well, guess I'll just have to take a shower.' She noted then headed for her house.

Meanwhile Naruto was frantically searching for her around town. 'Damn, I was suppose to bring her to the hospital now. It's already 1 pm, 2 hours left. If I don't bring her to Shikamaru now, they won't be able to talk anymore. Darn, If I didn't left the hospital just for some stupid ramen' He thought. Then ran straight to her house.

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KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Coming... Sheesh" Ino said while combing her hair, she was annoyed by the continuous banging on her door 'Can't this person wait for like 5 seconds' She thought then opened the door revealing a panting Naruto.

"Oh... Hi" She greeted.

"Ino listen to me..." He started then it told her the story. It took Ino 5 minutes to register what Naruto told her into her mind. By then she dropped the brush and covered her mouth with her hand, tears starting to form on her blue eyes.

"You're lying" she said. After Naruto shook his head she started to run to the direction of the hospital then Naruto just stared at her. 'I'll leave this to you, do your best... Shikamaru' he thought then left.

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When Ino arrived at the hospital, it was already 2:30. '30 minutes' she thought. When she reached his room she didn't even bother knocking. When she was inside, the sight in front of her made her realize that Naruto wasn't lying.

"Shikamaru" she manage to choke out.

He looked at her then smiled brightly. "Long time no see" he said casually.

She started crying. "You sob you idiot" she sobbed.

"Don't cry..." he said. It was already 2:50 pm. He could feel his time coming. And before it happened, he wanted to make sure everything went on perfectly. He handed her 12 red roses.

"What is this?" she asked startled at the roses but accepted them.

"Is it that bad to give roses to a person I love the most?" Shikamaru smiled then started to close his eyes.

Ino was touched and cried and held his hand. "Please don't leave me Shika, I love you too" she cried. "So much" she added.

He just smiled at her then held her face with his hands. "Please don't cry, you troublesome woman...." he sighed... Then looked at her in the eyes. "Just remember this" he said... "I will always love you..."he started and kissed her hand "...until the last rose dies" he finished, contented, he smiled and closed his eyes. His hands went limp and his heart was no longer beating.

"SHIKAMARU!!! SHIKAMARU!!!" she cried. Just then the nurses entered. Sakura went by her side and told her. "He knew this was going to happen" Sakura said.

Ino cried then remembered the roses... She smelled it then she widened her eyes... Not all would notice this because all flowers were very similar to each other... But a person like her who works at a flower shop would notice this... When she realized his purpose she cried even more...

She noticed that... Among the 12 roses he gave, 11 roses were REAL... and 1 was ARTIFICIAL...

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A/N: Oh my... hahahaha.... well... there you go... please review!!! Thanks (^__^)

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